Enugu to exclude serving council chairmen from caretaker committees

SERVING council chairmen will not be part of the caretaker committees to be constituted in the 17 local councils of Enugu State from November this year, when their tenure would elapse, The Guardian has learnt.

It was also gathered that the process would exclude council chairmen who would be completing their first tenure of two years in November and those completing their two tenures of four years within the period.

The Guardian was told that the state government’s inability to raise the over N500 million said to be required to fund the election into the councils by November this year forced Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi into the decision of instituting the caretaker committees. The source also said that not reappointing any of the serving chairmen was due to allegations of corruption under their watch.

Although the committee set up by the state governor headed by Speaker of the State Assembly, Edward Ubosi, to look into the operations and finances of councils in the state is yet to submit its final report, sources said the governor allegedly took the decision after studying the preliminary report.

“It is mind-blowing and really disheartening to know what these chairmen have turned that tier of government into. This has happened because majority of them are doing local government job as their first job; so, they believe it should be an opportunity for them to enrich themselves and get out of it,” the source stated.

The chairmen were also said to have stoutly opposed the setting up of the committee, adding that when it was finally constituted, they started petitioning the governor over its membership.

The source said that Ugwuanyi plans to create at least 2,000 jobs in each of the councils as soon as the biometric exercise is concluded, adding that “retired directors and technocrats from various fields may constitute the caretaker committee for the local governments from November.”

The source said that presently certain stakeholders are pressurising the governor on the need to return some of the council chairmen who would be completing their first tenure of two years by November, especially those who have done well among them.